Blue Ocean Society's Whale Sightings

Greetings! Thanks for visiting our blog. Our staff and interns will be posting their experiences here working on whale watch boats in NH and MA.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

June 30 Granite State

Guess who we didn't see today. Pinball or Satula! After nearly an entire month of either Pinball or Satula being seen on the southern end of Jeffreys Ledge these whales reminded us that whales do move. Granted these two mammals have been spending plenty of time in our area whales can, and do(!), move from region to region searching for food. Whether these whales have moved on to other feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine or were just doing a really, really, REALLY good job at avoiding whale watching boats today (at one point today 5 boats, all at the same time, were in search of these mammals) we can only wait and see. Maybe they will return soon, maybe different whales will move in, maybe we will see both of them in completely different areas of the ledge; the only way to find out is to wait and keep looking. As we searched for these whales, and any others, during both of our trips today we were lucky enough to come across some Minke whales today. All of the Minke whales we spent time with today were once again charging around. Not quite sure what is going on recently but our time spent with multiple Minke whales over the past week has been consistent with today's sightings. These whales were charging around full-force at the surface. They were creating crazy amounts of white water and lunging through the water almost resembling porpoising (similar to what dolphins can typically be seen doing at the surface) rather than what we typically see from these baleen whales which can be surfacing with minimal wave-action. Regardless of why, it was still fun to watch these whales dart through the water as they constantly changed directions both this morning and afternoon.

On a different note, please also help all marine life by disposing of your trash properly. We saw so many balloons floating out on the water today, both Mylar and latex made, which can be deadly to so many forms of life that call the ocean home. Remember that wind, streams, rivers, etc. can all carry so many things ultimately into the ocean. It doesn't matter where you live please let us all take responsibility and dispose of our human trash especially as graduation season continues in full swing and the 4th of July is right around the corner. Thank you!